HENDERSON, Ky. (11/21/13) - The Thelma B. Johnson Early Learning Center (TBJELC) was awarded a Welborn Baptist Foundation grant for $12,000 to create a program that will provide activities to promote kindergarten readiness for the estimated 400 students who will be entering kindergarten in Henderson County Schools for the 2014-2015 school year.

The proposed activities are designed to help develop the whole child through engagement in academic and physical activities and to assist parents in working with their students on age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate, kindergarten activities.

The program will provide “Transition to School” backpacks with activities focusing on the basic skills all kindergartners should know and understand. Each backpack contains a three month calendar of daily activities including counting and sorting items and identifying letters. Tactile number cards, counting links, foam letters and a journal in which to write and draw are also included in the backpack. There will be weekly lessons focusing on gross motor skill development and hand/eye and foot/eye coordination skills.

A YouTube video broadcast will be developed by the Early Learning Center staff. These lessons will follow the SPARK physical education curriculum for pre-school/ kindergarten students and will be presented by the Early Childhood Center’s Family Resource Director. The lessons will allow students and parents to participate together in appropriate physical activities for this age student. Students and parents will be asked to maintain a physical activity log and will use this log to enter for a prize give-away which will provide an incentive for participating. These videos will also be mailed to students in the summer months as a summer activity.

Currently, 427 of the targeted students are enrolled at the TBJELC: 28 percent of students have an identified disability and 72 percent are identified as being below federal guidelines for poverty. Incoming kindergarteners from TBJ ELC will be provided a backpack and encouraged to participate in the physical activity via the DVDs. Parents will learn about benefits of summer backpacks and availability of the physical activity program during district kindergarten transition meetings.

For more information, contact the Thelma B. Johnson Early Learning Center, at 270-854-0140.

SurfKY NewsInformation Provided by Henderson Public Schools Publication Team